A disgraceful day for Australia
So - Indonesia is still not happy with the West Papuan solution. They want the 42 original asylum seekers sent back, apparently. As far as I can see, they are acting like bullies. And we have given them every reason to believe they can bully us.
In a disgraceful act, the Government changed Australian Immigration Law (without consultation) to essentially excise the entire Australian Mainland from the immigration zone. That is to say, regardless of where you land in Australia, refugees will be "processed" offshore - and the official policy is that if they are deemed to be true refugees, the first preference for resettlement is in a third country. This means NOT in Australia. So we are essentially saying, we don't wan refugees here. Go away. I believe this is a terrible development, which will result in even more human rights abuse ("processing centres" are offshore, with little media access - who will policy the conditions and how long people are locked up for?). We are setting up our own little "Guantanamo Bay's" free from scrutiny.
What is even more galling, is that this step was taken by our spineless, gutless Primeminister at the request of the local bully boy. We have kowtowed to their demands and guess what? - we have sent them a clear message that Australia will change our rules to suit the requirement of other countries, so long as they excert enough pressure. Its an embarrassment.
Howard has somehow got the mantle of having "restored and clarified a pride in traditional Australian Values". How he got this is beyond me. He has outsourced policy making to other countries (whatever the U.S. wants - eg "free" trade deal - and now, whatever Indonesia wants). We also bend over backward to please China and India (well, in India's case, thats not such a bad thing :p ). He has shaken national pride, and made the population believe that unless we appease our neighbours, Australia will be in big trouble. So much for national pride.
Shame on you Howard.
In a disgraceful act, the Government changed Australian Immigration Law (without consultation) to essentially excise the entire Australian Mainland from the immigration zone. That is to say, regardless of where you land in Australia, refugees will be "processed" offshore - and the official policy is that if they are deemed to be true refugees, the first preference for resettlement is in a third country. This means NOT in Australia. So we are essentially saying, we don't wan refugees here. Go away. I believe this is a terrible development, which will result in even more human rights abuse ("processing centres" are offshore, with little media access - who will policy the conditions and how long people are locked up for?). We are setting up our own little "Guantanamo Bay's" free from scrutiny.
What is even more galling, is that this step was taken by our spineless, gutless Primeminister at the request of the local bully boy. We have kowtowed to their demands and guess what? - we have sent them a clear message that Australia will change our rules to suit the requirement of other countries, so long as they excert enough pressure. Its an embarrassment.
Howard has somehow got the mantle of having "restored and clarified a pride in traditional Australian Values". How he got this is beyond me. He has outsourced policy making to other countries (whatever the U.S. wants - eg "free" trade deal - and now, whatever Indonesia wants). We also bend over backward to please China and India (well, in India's case, thats not such a bad thing :p ). He has shaken national pride, and made the population believe that unless we appease our neighbours, Australia will be in big trouble. So much for national pride.
Shame on you Howard.
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